Idaho Picks Tormey As Coach Vandals Graduate Has Landed A Job He’s Worked Toward For 16 Years

It was 16 years in the making, but Chris Tormey finally saw his dream come true on Monday.

Tormey, an assistant at Washington, was announced as Idaho’s new head football coach at a late afternoon press conference.

“This job has been a professional goal of mine since I started my coaching career in 1978,” said Tormey, a former Vandals linebacker from Spokane.

It didn’t happen by accident.

Known as a meticulous planner and organizer, Tormey sold himself to UI’s administration.

How? He brought along handouts, a booklet really, that addressed everything from his coaching philosophies to how he would work with the media.

“I’ve been thinking about this opportunity for a long time,” said Tormey, who will sign a one-year contract at a pay scale similar to the coaches at Boise State and Idaho State. “I didn’t want to not get the job because I wasn’t prepared.”

“Even without that kind of presentation, just the kind of guy he is … his integrity and his honesty was impressive,” said UI athletic director Pete Liske, chair of the search committee. “He’s been focused toward this for a long time. He’s got that burn - that hunger - in his stomach.”

That’s good, because he’s stepping into a program that hasn’t had a losing season since 1981. In 1982, coach Dennis Erickson came on board and started a victory parade that continued with Keith Gilbertson and John L. Smith, who left last week for Utah State.

Tormey’s no stranger to UI’s illustrious past. He was an assistant under Erickson from 1982-83 before serving 11 years at UW. As an assistant, Tormey’s never been on a team with a losing record.

“The thing I know about this program is people expect to win and winning is important here,” he said. “And we intend to continue winning.”

His immediate concerns are filling out his staff. He plans on talking with former Smith assistants Greg Olson, Jim Senter, Todd Hoiness and Nick Holt. Holt originally joined Smith in Utah but is considering staying at UI.

Tormey, UW’s defensive coordinator last year, said he has several candidates in mind for offensive coordinator. One won’t be Scott Linehan, a finalist for the Idaho job along with Cal assistant Tim Lappano. Linehan said he will either remain at UW as an assistant or join Smith’s staff.

Tormey faces big recruiting hurdles. UI has a dozen recruits visiting this weekend with the signing date looming on Feb. 1.

But Tormey said some stability could be achieved by retaining some of Smith’s assistants who continued Vandals recruiting in the interim between coaches.

At Washington, former Huskies coach Don James threw Tormey into a vital, sink-or-swim recruiting area in California.

Tormey treaded water a couple years before he started landing recruits (Napoleon Kaufman, Mark Brunell among them) who would go on to star at UW.

“The thing that impressed me is I put him in one of the toughest recruiting areas and he came up dry for a couple of years, but he kept progressing as a salesperson,” said James, who gave Tormey his start as a graduate assistant in 1980.

Tormey, a Gonzaga Prep grad, had previously worked as an assistant under G-Prep coach Don Anderson.

“He was losing the very best kids,” James said. “I told him I didn’t care and to keep going after them. And he started getting them.”

Tormey, 39, said he has 8-10 recruits in mind from his UW recruiting territory.

Tormey views Idaho’s plans to join the Big West Conference in 1996 as an “opportunity,” pledging that the Vandals will be successful if funded equally with other Big West schools.

Tormey said his offensive philosophy is similar to UI’s traditional one-back approach.

Defensively, “my philosophy is to attack the offense with a pressure defense,” he said. “Idaho has gravitated that way the last year or so.”

Said Liske, grinning: “Now you’ve got both sides of the ball covered.”

“He could have been just as good as an offensive coordinator,” James said.

Tormey said he’ll demand much from himself, his players and his staff. And it’s clear he means it, as he criticized himself for a few verbal slipups at the press conference. “Shoot,” he chastised afterward, his voice trailing off.

In the next sentence, he was right back in focus.

“The will to prepare to win is as important as the will to win,” he said.

He plans on doing both at UI - diligently.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with story: The Tormey file Spent 11 years as an assistant at UW, the last one as defensive coordinator. Graduated from Idaho in 1978, where he was a two-time All-Big Sky Conference pick as a linebacker. Graduated from Gonzaga Prep in 1972, where he was twice All-GSL. Got coaching start at G-Prep in 1978.